Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department of Mechanical Engineering 6.050J/2.110J – Information, Entropy and Computation – Spring 2008

Unit 9: Maximum Entropy

Schedule

Lecture Handouts

Students who for any reason did not receive these items can pick up a copy in Room 38-344. Most of this material is also available on the 6.050J/2.110J Web site http://mtlsites.mit.edu/Courses/6.050.

• Unit 9 Resources (this page)
• 6.050J / 2.110J Notes
  • Chapter 9, Principle of Maximum Entropy

Reading Assignment

• Chapter 9, Principle of Maximum Entropy

Resources

Technical

The person most responsible for use of maximum entropy principles in various fields of science is Edwin T. Jaynes. The seminal papers are:

• Jaynes, E. T., "Information Theory and Statistical Mechanics," Physical Review, vol. 106, no. 4, pp. 620-630; May 15, 1957. PDF (2.2 MB), PS (2.6 MB). This paper started the use of the Principle of Maximum Entropy in physics
• Jaynes, E. T., "Information Theory and Statistical Mechanics. II," Physical Review, vol. 108, no. 2, pp. 171-190; October 15, 1957. PDF (3.9 MB), PS (4.7 MB). Continuation of the previous reference

Historical

• Joseph-Louis Lagrange (1736 - 1813) biography
• Edwin T. Jaynes (1922 - 1998) biography, photograph, bibliography
  
  

Books

• The philosophy of assuming maximum uncertainty is discussed in Chapter 3 of M. Tribus, "Thermostatics and Thermodynamics," D. Van Nostrand Co, Inc., Princeton, NJ; 1961
• Another good explanation, in terms of estimating probabilities of an unfair die is in E. T. Jaynes, "Information Theory and Statistical Mechanics," pp. 181-218 in "Statistical Physics," Brandeis Summer Institute 1962, W. A. Benjamin, Inc., New York, NY; 1963. PDF, PS
• Personal history by Jaynes, Edwin T. Jaynes, "Where Do We Stand on Maximum Entropy?," pp. 15-118, in "The Maximum Entropy Formalism," Raphael D. Levine and Myron Tribus, editors, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA; 1979. PDF, PS

Help Wanted

6.050J/2.110J students: be the first to suggest a resource, for example a useful Web site or a good book or article, to add to the list above. Send your suggestion by e-mail during Spring 2008 to 6.050-staff at mit.edu.